Identification of Programmes for Study in India
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Whose Public Action? Analysing Inter-sectoral Collaboration for Service Delivery Identification of Programmes for Study in India Padmaja Nair Lucknow, India February, 2007 Published: February 2007 © International Development Department (IDD) / Padmaja Nair ISBN: 0704425564 9780704425569 This research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council under the ESRC Non- Governmental Public Action Programme. The ESRC is the UK’s leading research and training agency addressing economic and social concerns. ESRC aims to provide high-quality research on issues of importance to business, the public sector and Government. CONTENTS ACRONYMS SECTION 1: NON-FORMAL EDUCATION 1. The state and non-formal education 1.2 Definition of NFE in the Indian context 1.3 Evolution of the NFE concept as a State supported programme 1.4 NFE in State and donor aided initiatives 1.5 Post 2000: Education Guarantee Scheme & Alternative and Innovative Education (EGS & AIE) 2. NGOs in non-formal education 2.1 Types of State-NGO collaboration 2.2 NGOs in Education in Mumbai 2.3 NGO Network in Mumbai 3. Role of the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai 4. Emerging issues for the NGPA research SECTION 2: PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 1. Evolution of primary health care delivery services 2. Profile of primary health care service in India 2.1 Public Primary Health Care delivery structure 2.2 Gaps in public primary health care services 2.3 Status of Primary Health Care in Karnataka 3. NGOs in primary health care 4. Conclusions SECTION 3: URBAN SANITATION 1. Introduction and context 1.1 Overview of sanitation in India 1.1.1 Focus on rural sanitation 1.2 Urbanisation and urban sanitation 1.2.1 Urbanisation 1.2.2 Slum population 1.2.3 Access to toilets 1.2.4 Slum sanitation 1 2. Response to urban sanitation needs 2.1 National policy and programmes 2.1.1 Low cost urban sanitation 2.1.2 Other centrally sponsored schemes 2.1.3 Corrective measures in the Tenth Five Year Plan 2.1.4 JNNURM and the sub-mission on Basic Services to the Urban Poor 2.2 Initiatives at the State and ULB levels 3. Urban institutional framework for delivery of sanitation services 3.1 NGOs in urban sanitation 4. Conclusions REFERENCES 2 ACRONYMS ANMs Auxilary Nursing Midwives APL Above Poverty Line BMC Bombay Municipal Corporation BPL Below Poverty Line CAPE Comprehensive Access to Primary Education Project CBO Community Based Organsiations CDO Community Development Officer CHC Community Health Centres CLHI Community-led Health Initiative CRSP Central Rural Sanitation Programme DIET District Institutes of Education and Training DSS Door Step school DPEP District Primary Education Programme DRU District Resource Unit. EGS & AIE Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education ESIS Employees’ State Insurance Scheme FNGO Field NGOs IEC Information, Education and Communication IED Integrated Education for the Disabled ISRO Indian Space Research Organisations IWSD International Water and Sanitation Decade JNNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission LJP Lok Jumbish Project MNGO Mother NGO MoU Memorandum of Understanding MPW Multi Purpose Worker NCERT National Council for Educational Research and Training NFE: Non-Formal Education NGPA Non Government Public Action NPE National Policy on Education NRHM National Rural Health Mission PHC Primary Health Centres PHU Primary health units PoA Plan of Action PPC Public-Private Partnership Cell PRI Panchayati Raj Institutions SCOVA State Standing Committee on Voluntary Action SKP Sashiksha Karmi Project SSA Sarva Shiksah Abhiyan TSC Total Sanitation Campaign UEE Universal Elementary Education ULB Urban Local Bodies VAMBY Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana VGKK Vivekananda Girijan Kalyan Kendra VHC Village Health Centres 3 Identification of Programmes for Study in India: Initial Notes This note provides an analytical overview of specific programmes within the three sectors of the NGPA research study: primary education (non- formal education), primary health (primary health care centres) and water and sanitation (urban sanitation). The purposes are to trace the emergence of the non-governmental sector in the specific programme and to provide a base for the in-depth case studies. The note is based on several rounds of discussions with experts, relevant government officials at the policy and programme management level, and heads and senior management teams of NGOs in Delhi, Bombay, Pune and Bangalore. The note will also refer to several research reports (published and unpublished), government documents as well as the previous work of the team on non-state service providers (Nair 2004). Section 1: Non-Formal Education 1. The state and non-formal education 1.2 Definition of NFE in the Indian context The term Non-Formal Education (NFE) in the Indian context applies to education of out- of-school children and is described as an organised activity that takes place outside the traditional framework of formal education system. As such, it is said to be flexible in terms of organisation, teaching methods and contents, target group of learners, evaluation procedures, etc., all of which is expected to enable it to reach out to the hardest-to-reach group of children, in both rural and urban areas. In this sense the definition has come to include all children who are drop-outs from the formal system of education because of economic and cultural compulsions, or who have stayed out of the system, again for socio- economic reasons or because they do not find primary schooling attractive or meaningful. It brings within its scope a range of children including those who assist in domestic chores and attend to siblings, or lend a helping hand in contributing to the family income. It also includes children from scattered habitations with population below the permissible school norms, drop outs and over-age children. NFE has, thus, been coceptualised as an alternative to formal education for these children in order to achieve universalisation of elementary education. ‘Formal education’ on the other hand is the structured system of the country, stretching form the pre-primary to the higher university levels; it also includes technical and professional education. In spite of its ‘formality’, this system is also characterised by a lack of uniformity in both learning materials and methods. Somewhat similar to the non- formal system, there are sub-regional variations in the formal education system across the country, largely dependent on the socio-political characteristics of specific regions1. 1 Private schools are mostly English-medium and opt for the CISCE Board common across the country, while all central government run schools as well as some private schools students write the all-India CBSE exam. The various state government and aided schools within states on the other hand are affiliated to the 4 Thus, currently there are over 28 Examination Boards at the elementary school level operating in India. This unequal formal system has been the focus of many policies and civil society movements since 1964, and efforts have been made - with out much success so far - to set up, what has been termed a Common School System, guaranteeing equity in education and equal opportunities. 1. 3. Evolution of the NFE concept as a State supported programme Pre 2000: emergence of a State initiated NFE programme The need for a non-formal type of elementary education was articulated as far back as the mid-1940s as part-time education for those who could not avail the benefits of full- time schooling. The issue was brought into the forefront of debates again during the mid- sixties, by the Education Commission (1964-66), which recommended the adoption of a flexible programme of part-time education at the elementary stage for all children in the age-group 11-14 who could not complete the lower primary level or were not attending school. Interestingly the Commission also suggested that the content of the NFE course should be determined according to the needs and capacities of the learners and that part-time education for a period of one year should be made compulsory. However, in spite of strong recommendations no such programme emerged until some large-scale pilot initiatives were undertaken during the 1970s. These seem to have influenced the State to acknowledge the need for creating a non-formal school system, in order to ensure universal elementary education. The first efforts of significance were made by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) which developed an early model of NFE in Bhumiadar, integrating education with the environment. NCERT, followed this by setting up a large number of NFE centres in different parts of the country through a network of Regional Colleges of Education and Field Officers. During the same period the ‘Madhya Pradesh Model’ of part-time education for children in the age-group 9-14 was developed in Madhya Pradesh. This adopted a condensed version of the course followed in the formal primary schools and was to be completed in two years instead of five. This scheme is said to have received the full support of the state bureaucracy and to have been effectively implemented by the state government. These early State initiated experiments culminated in the development of a centrally sponsored NFE scheme in 1978-79 (just prior to the start of the Sixth Plan) on a large scale (after an initial pilot phase) in the educationally backward states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It was eventually extended to the educationally backward pockets of the remaining states. Known as the ‘Experimental Projects for Non- Formal Education for Children of 9-14 Age-group for Universalisation of Elementary Education', the scheme focused on ensuring participation of all `out of school’ children including those living in small, unserved habitations and others including working children, migrating children, street children, adolescent girls etc who were out of school.